If you enjoy our reviews and articles, and you want us to continue our work please, support our website by donating through PayPal. The funds are going to be used for paying our editorial team, renting servers, and equipping our testing studio; only that way we will be able to continue providing you interesting content for free.
Time to sum up the results of our test – let’s glance at the list of pros and cons.
Pros:
solid casing,
excellent image quality in the frame centre,
good image quality on the edge of the APS-C sensor,
sensible image quality on the edge of full frame,
lack of problems with longitudinal chromatic aberration,
imperceptible lateral chromatic aberration,
lack of distortion problems on the smaller detector,
sensible coma correction,
negligible astigmatism,
low vignetting on APS-C/DX sensor,
silent and accurate autofocus,
good performance against bright light.
Cons:
a tad too high spherical aberration,
high vignetting on full frame.
The Sigma company have got us used to the fact that a purchase of any of the Art line lenses means a reliable investment with a guarantee of above-average optics and superior build quality – for a price often lower than in the case of the rivals. Here their task was especially difficult because in the same market segment you can find the excellent Nikkor AF-S 14–24 mm f/2.8G ED and also one of the best Tamron lenses available currently on the market, the Tamron 15–30 mm f/2.8 Di VC USD. What’s more, the Tamron launch happened several years ago so its price has managed to settle down on a very reasonable level of $1200. That’s why the task of the Sigma, which entered the market with the $1300 price tag, is more difficult. The Sigma offers you a bit wider angle of view than the Tamron but its maximum focal length is shorter and it doesn’t have any optical stabilization. It remains optically better, especially on the edges of the sensor near the maximum relative aperture, and its lateral chromatic aberration correction is superior but the difference remains slight; in such a situation for many customers the price still might remain the sole decisive factor. Let’s face it, the Tamron is in a more favourable position. As long as the price of the Sigma doesn’t decrease a bit, the Tamron might sell better.
The summary of this test should be very optimistic. High quality competition – there’s nothing better from the customers’ point of view.
